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Exposé
This article is about the episode. For the television series in the episode, see Exposé (TV series). "Exposé" is the fourteenth episode of Season 3 and the sixty-third produced hour of the series as a whole. It was first broadcast on March 28, 2007. After Nikki seemingly drops dead in front of Hurley and Sawyer, the survivors find Paulo in the same state and investigate their supposed deaths, realizing that they don't know much about them. Meanwhile, Charlie admits to Sun that it wasn't the Others who attacked her. Synopsis Flashback Off-Island An emcee announces the arrival of "Corvette," the "pride of St. Paul" as Nikki takes off her coat to reveal a faux diamond bikini and dances around a pole on a club stage. ♪ She spots someone entering Mr. LaShade's office and follows him with her coat on, catching the man opening a suitcase of money on his desk. She confronts him and says that the money was meant for the orphanage and Mr. LaShade must really be "the Cobra". The other man aims a gun at her but she shouts her catchphrase "razzle-dazzle" and kicks to the floor and grabs it. She aims it at Mr. LaShade but he shoots her first. She falls to the floor, apparently dead. Two dancers, Autumn and Crystal, burst in, and LaShade tells them Corvette was working for the Cobra and he (the Cobra) will pay. A voice says, "And cut!" and a television crewman closes a clapperboard labeled Exposé. LaShade revealed to actually be the actor Billy Dee Williams, helps Nikki to her feet. Creator of the show Howard L. Zukerman announces that it's a series wrap for Corvette as the crew applauds Nikki. He walks her outside, where the Sydney opera house can be seen in the background, and offers to bring her character back. He asks if she's leaving Sydney to go back to Los Angeles but she says she loves him, and isn't leaving. Howard and Nikki are eating at his house and he introduces his new chef Paulo to Nikki when she compliments the food. He says Paulo came to Sydney and came to Howard's office every day until he gave him the job. Howard offers her a bread roll and she sees that he has placed a diamond bracelet there for her. He is about to explain why his wife is an obstacle to their getting married when he clutches his chest. Paulo comes out and checks his pulse, announcing his death. Nikki grabs a necklace with a key off of Howard's neck as she complains about having to eat the same food as him. They enter Howard's closet and unlock a secret safe Nikki claims no one else knows about. Paulo prepares to smoke but Nikki stops him so they don't leave evidence. Inside the safe, they find a matryoshka doll. Nikki looks at the contents of the doll and exclaims, "razzle freaking dazzle". ♪ As they sit at the Sydney airport restaurant, Paulo reads a newspaper article to Nikki which reports Howard's death as heart failure. They laugh and kiss and Nikki asks about Paulo's gum. He tells her it's nicotine gum, and that he has quit smoking. They toast each other with champagne as they are interrupted by Shannon loudly complaining about a lack of seating in the waiting area and Boone being responsible for them not getting first class tickets. Boone politely asks Paulo for their extra chair but Shannon pulls Boone away, accusing him of “flirting with random guys" which she blames for their delay. Nikki asks Paulo to promise her they will never end up like Shannon and Boone. On-Island Day 1 The survivors of Flight 815 roam around the debris of the fuselage in shock. Nikki runs past Shannon who is screaming for Boone and searches for her bag as Gary Troup gets sucked into the engine, which explodes. Nikki screams for Paulo, turning over a survivor, but it's Arzt who asks, "Are we alive? Did we survive? Look at me". Boone runs up to Nikki and asks if she has a pen. She spots Paulo staring out in shock at the ocean. She holds his face with concern and asks him where the bag is. Paulo was shocked that she was most concerned about the whereabouts of the diamonds rather than his (and everyone else's) well-being. ♪ Day 6 }} Nikki and Paulo search through the luggage at night while theorizing about the nature of the Monster. Nikki tells Paulo to focus as they need to find the bag before they are rescued. Ethan offers them clothes if they need them and introduces himself. Nikki says they are looking for Paulo's nicotine gum. Ethan suggests looking inland. Arzt runs by shouting that Boone has taken the water. Jack comes out, tells them he has found water, and makes his "live together, die alone" speech. Day 24 Nikki finds Dr. Arzt examining his collection of 20 new species inside his shelter. One, the female Medusa spider, emits an extremely powerful pheromone. Nikki asks for his help in figuring out where her luggage might have landed. Arzt offers to draw a map showing possible trajectory of the debris that fell from the plane as it crashed. Paulo acts jealously about Nikki asking Arzt for help, and suggests Ethan would have been more help. They follow Arzt's map and find the drug smugglers' plane. Nikki asks him to climb up there to look for a radio but he is afraid it will fall. They discover the Pearl hatch and open it. Paulo wants to investigate but Nikki doesn't let him. Day 33 Shannon and Arzt are yelling at Kate for not telling the group about the guns from the Marshal's case. Shortly after that, Nikki and Paulo arrive and question what's going on. Shannon tells them that Kate, Jack, and Sawyer didn't tell the camp about the case of guns, and leaves angrily. Nikki asks Kate where she found this case. Nikki and Paulo go to the waterfall, and Paulo asks if Nikki would be with him if not for the bag. Nikki only says that it's worth $8 million and he should dive in, since she had to seduce Howard. Paulo sees the bag but tells Nikki he only sees dead bodies. She leaves and he dives under again. ♪ Day 49 }} Paulo nervously takes the nicotine gum out of his luggage bag and starts to dig a hole on the beach when Locke discovers him. Locke suggests he find a more secure place for whatever he's hiding, stating, "Things don't stay buried on this Island". Locke clarifies his statement by saying that the beach will erode. ♪ Paulo enters the Pearl, where one monitor is on, showing static. ♪ He hides the matryoshka doll in the toilet reservoir. He hears a noise and peeks through the bathroom door. Ben and Juliet enter, thinking the door was left open by Tom. Ben tells Juliet to have Tom cover the Hatch with the plane. They tune the monitor station to the Swan video feed, which displays Jack. Upon seeing him, Juliet asks, "Is that him? Shephard?" Ben says he will recruit Jack by exploiting his emotional investments. Juliet asks if this means they'll grab Ford and Austen too. Ben replies that they'll get Michael to bring them to the Others. They leave, Ben commanding Juliet to "tell Tom to cover up the station with the plane", and Paulo finds their walkie. ♪ Day 72 Locke invites the survivors to the Pearl station, and Nikki and Paulo tag along. While the rest are investigating the video feeds, Paulo pretends to need to use the bathroom. He retrieves the matryoshka doll, breaks it (revealing its contents: a small pouch), and hides the pouch in his underwear. Day 81 Nikki tells Paulo that she is sad that Thanksgiving passed two weeks ago without them realizing it. She is worried that they will never be rescued, but Paulo comforts her. He tells her he is glad they didn't find the bag because it might have torn them apart. ♪ He leaves to get them breakfast and Nikki finds his nicotine gum in the sand. Nikki finds Sawyer and demands he gives her a gun. He refuses, saying that she is so agitated that no good can come of it. He says he doesn't have the guns anymore and wouldn't give one to her if he did, as Desmond watches. He yells "and who the hell are you?" as she leaves. Nikki brings Paulo into the jungle and confronts him about having the diamonds. He feigns ignorance but she shows him the gum. She takes out one of Dr Arzt's specimen jars, opens it, and flings a Medusa spider at Paulo. It lands on his neck and bites him. He kills it, and it remains stuck to his hand. She tells him that it's called the Medusa spider because it paralyzes the victim for around eight hours, and slows the heart. Paulo collapses and can't move. Nikki coolly begins to search him for the diamonds, at first guessing that they are hidden in his shoe. She takes off his shoe and throws it into a tree. She opens his pants and finds the pouch in his underwear. Paulo tells her he took the diamonds because he was afraid of losing her if she found the diamonds and didn't need him anymore. The clicking sounds of the Monster are heard in the distance and Nikki is distracted as many Medusa spiders, attracted by the scent of the smashed female spider, march towards the pair. Nikki is bitten by one and she runs away through the jungle. She stops suddenly and digs a hole, burying something, then continues running. ♪ On the beach, Sawyer and Hurley are playing ping pong when Nikki staggers towards them and collapses. Hugo asks her what happened and she says something hard to understand, like "pa-- leyes--". Sawyer tells Hurley to get help and peers into the jungle for possible dangers, but Hurley tells him Nikki is dead. Sawyer asks who Nikki is. Sawyer, Hurley, Jin, Sun, and Charlie examine the body but can't determine the cause of death. Sun suggests she might have been poisoned and they should check the food supply. Charlie discovers dirt under her fingernails. Sawyer thinks she said "plywood," but Hurley suggests "power lines" and then exclaims "Paulo lies!" Sawyer proposes they investigate Paulo. }} Sawyer, Jin, and Hurley find Paulo's still body lying on the jungle floor. ♪ His pants are undone and his shoe is in a tree. Sawyer looks into the jungle but claims not to see anything. Jin takes a water bottle out of Paulo's bag, but Sawyer takes it away and empties it in case it's poisoned. Hurley accuses Sawyer of contaminating the crime scene. Jin suggests it was the Monster. Hurley, Jin, and Sawyer bring Paulo's body to the graveyard. Hurley says the Monster must be responsible because Paulo and Nikki were with Eko when he said, "you're next". Sawyer disputes this, saying that he thinks Eko meant "We're all next". Hurley berates Sawyer for referring to Nikki and Paulo as "Nina and Pablo." Sawyer searches through Nikki and Paulo's tent while Hurley tells him to be careful. Charlie reports that Sun checked the food and no one else is sick. They see the bugs and Charlie remembers them as Arzt's. They theorize that Nikki and Paulo were his friends. Charlie finds Nikki's ''Exposé'' script. Hurley professes being a big fan of the show and discovers Nikki's name on the cast listing. He is shocked to discover that Mr. LaShade was "the Cobra". Sawyer discovers a walkie and tells them it's exactly the same as the ones the Others carry on their belts. He accuses Nikki and Paulo of working with the Others. The group discusses the situation at the graveyard. Hurley asks Sawyer how Nikki and Paulo could have been working with the Others. Sawyer reminds him of what Michael did. Hurley says they are too far away but Sun counters that they grabbed her right in their camp. Sawyer offers to make a perimeter sweep, taking out a gun, which Hurley questions him about. Charlie and Sun cover the bodies. Hurley finds Desmond and asks if he can use his psychic powers to find out what happened, but Desmond says he only see flashes. He suggests asking Sawyer, whom he saw Nikki arguing with earlier in the day, right before she died. Vincent uncovers the bodies. Hurley discusses his findings about Sawyer with Charlie and Sun. Sun defends Sawyer and accuses the Others. Hurley leaves to get Desmond. Charlie confesses to Sun that he was the one that bagged her head and dragged her into the jungle, and that it was Sawyer's idea. ♪ Later when they all regroup at the grave, Hurley asks for Sawyer's gun and tells him he knows about his argument with Nikki ♪. He asks if Sawyer killed her, but Sawyer insists he didn't do it. He tells them he kept it a secret, because he deduced from the dirt under Nikki's nails that she must have been hiding something important. He shows them the pouch and throws it to Sun. She opens it to reveal many diamonds. Sawyer tells her to keep them, says he had nothing to do with the deaths and walks away. Sun finds Sawyer and confronts him about what Charlie revealed. She returns the diamonds to him, pointing out that they have no value here, and slaps him. Later, the group gathers around the grave for a funeral and Hurley delivers a eulogy. He says although it appears they killed each other over diamonds, they were nice to him, he liked Exposé, and they were part of the camp. Sawyer scatters the diamonds in their grave. The group starts to bury Nikki and Paulo. Just as the sand covers their faces, the poison starts to wear off and Nikki's eyes open suddenly, but Sawyer and Hurley do not see; Nikki and Paulo are both buried alive. It is then clear that Nikki actually said "paralyzed" before she collapsed on the beach. Trivia *When Nikki throws a spider on Paulo, the chitter noises the Monster makes can be heard as a large group of spiders appear and bite Nikki. After much speculation, these noises, and the subsequent spiders, were confirmed to have been the work of the Monster in the March 21, 2008 Official Lost Podcast. *Even though they are the featured characters of the episode, the only dialogue that Nikki and Paulo have is in their flashbacks, excepting Nikki's last words which are also shown in flashback. *''Exposé'' is French for "exposed"; in colloquial English, it means a revelation or exposure, often revealed in the print or news media. *In the extensive on-Island flashbacks between Nikki and Paulo's presumed deaths and their actual deaths, several already-dead characters make prominent guest appearances: Ethan, Boone, Arzt, Shannon, and Gary Troup. *The slate board shown at the beginning of the episode informs viewers that the fictional season finale episode of Exposé was directed by Stephen Williams, who directed this episode of Lost as well. *Billy Dee Williams plays Mr. LaShade (who turns out to be the show's main villain, "the Cobra") in the fictional Exposé, and also appears as himself in this episode. *This is the first episode to feature flashbacks of events already shown within the episode itself. *Eko's church can be seen in this episode. *This episode marks both the earliest and latest chronological appearances of Nikki and Paulo. * Carlton and Damon said that this episode, along with "Across the Sea", is one of the most polarizing episodes throughout the series. * This episode is rated TV-14-V. Meta-references The episode employs several examples of self-references, foreshadowing, and reference to fan discussions: * One of the shows produced by Zukerman is called Strike Team Alpha, which is very similar to the popular 1980s television series, The A-Team. ** Sawyer states that the "A-Team" took all the guns when Nikki asks for one. * Before the main title screen, Sawyer says, "Who the hell is Nikki?" and later asks, "Who the hell is Paulo?", perhaps a reference to fan discussion surrounding the introduction of the characters Nikki and Paulo. * Nikki unintentionally makes light of Locke when she tells Paulo, "You don't want to climb up to a plane, but now you want to climb down a ladder into a dark tunnel? I don't think so." * Locke says, "Things don't stay buried on this island" and "Make sure whatever you're hiding won't wash away." * While leaving the set for her last episode of Exposé, the director offers to retcon Nikki's character back in to the plot. Nikki foreshadows her own fate on the Island by replying, "Thanks, but I'm only a guest star, and we all know what happens to guest stars." * Nikki points out to Paulo that Thanksgiving was two weeks ago and they completely missed it, a point often questioned by fans. * When Nikki sees Boone and Shannon fighting in the airport, she says to Paulo, "Promise me we won't end up like them." Both couples end up dead, and buried side by side on the Island. * Nikki's statement about not "ending up like them" echoes Gina's comment to Jeff regarding Sun's subservience to Jin in . * Hurley reading the ''Exposé'' script, and his shock at finding out Mr. LaShade is "the Cobra" after four seasons, is an example of a mise-en-abîme, a depiction of the slow-moving but shocking nature of the show within the show itself. Production notes In pre-series finale interviews, show-runners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse admitted they were surprised by the negative reaction to this episode: http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/05/lost_showrunners_damon_lindelo.html http://voices.washingtonpost.com/celebritology/2010/05/talking_lost_with_damon_lindel.html *This was the final episode to feature Kiele Sanchez (Nikki) and Rodrigo Santoro (Paulo) as a main credited cast members. ** Kiele Sanchez would make one more (uncredited and archival) appearance as Nikki in , and Rodrigo Santoro would never appear in the series again. * This is the first episode of Season 3 in which all current cast members appeared; however, Naveen Andrews (Sayid) and Matthew Fox (Jack) only appeared in archive footage (though some of Fox's footage is made up of alternate takes originally from and , not actual previously used material). ** Emilie de Ravin (Claire) appears without lines. * Nikki and Paulo's story was originally intended to be a lot longer, but was ultimately cut short due to the huge fan backlash against those two characters. As revealed in the Season 3 DVD audio commentary for this episode, the original plan was to have an entire episode devoted to flashbacks for Nikki, only to reveal at the end of the episode that those "flashbacks" were all just part of the TV show Exposé. In the actual episode, that revelation already occurs at the end of the first flashback scene. * The writers originally intended to have more gags. For example, one gag would have Nikki and Paulo finding Shannon's asthma inhaler and then discarding it. Another was to have them meeting Locke and Boone by the lake (they have shovels, as they were excavating the hatch) before they both carry on with their business. * As stated on the audio commentary and in the "Lost: On Location" feature for this episode included on the Season 3 DVD boxset, the scene depicting the day of the crash of Oceanic Flight 815 featured in one of Nikki's flashbacks consisted of a mix of recycled footage from , unused dailies for and newly shot footage. According to the April 5, 2007 podcast, line producer Jean Higgins had been asking Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse for about two years whether the Lockheed L-1011 body representing the main fuselage could be "thrown away" after the survivors had left their original beach camp in . However, Damon and Carlton had insisted that they might still have use for it one day, and thus felt vindicated once this episode came along. Oddly enough, however, the main fuselage body is nowhere to be seen in the "Lost: On Location" featurette for this episode. For the new footage, background extra Kamakani De Dely portrayed the Tourniquet Man, while Dale Radomski, who portrayed the character in , was still seen in the old footage. As a matter of fact, De Dely ultimately ended up being only seen in two very brief scenes that both lasted less than a second. *A deleted scene for this episode included the Discharge event from Season 2 Finale, which causes Nikki to reflect on her past behavior towards her fellow castaways. ABC promotional photos for the episode depicted moments from that scene, and the full scene was included among the "Lost Flashbacks" on the season 3 DVD boxset. *A podcast rehash for the episode was released on March 30th, 2007. *Confusion surrounded the title of this episode. ABCMedianet's calendar originally reported the title as "Expos". The title in the press release PDF packet was listed as "Exposé". but the actual press release on the site had the title listed as "Exposi". Eventually, all ABCMedianet sources changed the title to the correct one, "Exposé". Some parts of ABC's website name the episode "Expose" because the acute 'e' will not show up in some browsers, hence the titles "Expos" and "Exposi". *This is the lowest rated episode of Season 3 of Lost on ABC, with a total of 11.52 million viewers. *An audio commentary by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz for this episode is available on the Season 3 DVD. *A Lost: On Location for this episode is available on the Season 3 DVD. Bloopers and continuity errors *When Nikki and Howard are shown in Sydney Harbor, the location of Sydney Opera House is incorrect in the CGI make up of the Harbor. In the show, the Opera House can be seen to the right of the cityscape, where as, in real life, there is open water to the left of the Opera house. *When Paulo and Nikki are reading the newspaper in the airport prior to their flight, the date in the newspaper is shown as Thursday, September 24, 2004, rather than September 22, the date of the plane crash. In addition, the Thursday of that week was actually the 23rd of September. Script coordinator Gregg Nations confirmed that this was a prop error that had been caught, was supposed to get fixed yet still ended up in the aired version of the episode. *In the airport flashback, Nikki and Paulo are having a toast. Paulo is just about to take a sip from his glass as he suddenly hears Shannon's voice. In the very next shot, Paulo is suddenly holding the glass away from his mouth, and more than half of the glass's content is already gone. *Neither Boone's hairstyle nor the color of his hair match his appearance in the pilot. Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse admitted that Ian Somerhalder is wearing a wig for this episode because they wouldn't ask him to cut his hair for a mere two days of shooting. *Shannon's hair changes length dramatically in every different scene she appears in. When she is seen in the airport (with Boone), her hair is much longer than it was originally in . She is later seen in archive footage with the original hair length but a closer shot causes her hair to, again turn longer. This is due to the inaccurate wigs made for Maggie Grace. *During Nikki and Paulo's flashback of the crash scene, Locke, rather than the "gas man" extra, yelled "stay away from the gas". *Also during the crash scene, Locke and another survivor can be briefly seen carrying the Tourniquet Man before Gary Troup gets sucked into the engine. In the shots that are recycled from , the Tourniquet Man is merely unshaven (played by Dale Radomski), but in the newly filmed footage that features Nikki, he clearly sports an actual beard (and is portrayed by Kamakani De Dely). *When Nikki is trying to find Paulo in the plane wreckage, she sees Jack near the water helping Claire. Seconds later, in the wide shot where she looks up at the wing, Jack is also visible near the plane and not with Claire. The shot was recycled from , with Nikki and an extra wreckage part added via greenscreen. However, the special effects crew forgot to digitally remove Jack from that shot. *When Jack is telling the survivors about the caves, he is also seen standing to the right of Hurley, near Nikki and Paulo. *Jack's speech doesn't match up completely with the version from "White Rabbit". While the omission of the drowned woman could simply be due to length (i.e. what we see is actually not the full speech, but just a montage), this still doesn't explain why a few sentences change order. *While Hurley, Charlie and Sun are digging Paulo and Nikki's grave, Vincent runs off with the blanket that's covering their bodies. The camera then changes to Hurley, Sun and Charlie talking about Sawyer, and Charlie's confession to Sun about the kidnapping (see ). After she leaves, the camera switches back to Paulo and Nikki's 'corpses' and the blanket is back on them. *When Sawyer and Hurley bury Nikki and Paulo, Nikki's hands are together over her body. When Sawyer throws the diamonds in, her hands are by her side. They then return to the original position in the next shot. *The diamonds that Sawyer throws into Paulo and Nikki grave are different from the ones used throughout the rest of the episode. *In Paulo's passport, the expression "REPÚBLICA FEDERATIVA DO BRASIL" is misspelled as "REPUBLICA FEDERATIVA DO BRAZIL". * The Nigerian plane had fallen over the Pearl by Day 49. Paulo is shown to go into the station easily whereas Eko had to use an axe to open the hatch door. ** Inside the Pearl station, Ben tells Juliet to have Tom cover the hatch with the plane. He also asks why the door was left open. Tom could have easily secured the hatch door in a way that would involve needing an axe to reopen it before he covers it with the plane. *On Day 49, Locke says to Paulo, "Winter is coming, high tide." However, winter would not be coming in November in the South Pacific. It is unknown whether Locke didn't know what he was talking about, or if it was merely an oversight by the script writers. Music *The episode includes several appearance of a theme not heard since the pilot and never heard again. It appears in the Season 3 soundtrack as "Sweet Exposé". *The orchestral piece "Sweet Exposé" is shown being recorded by the Hollywood Studio Symphony on the April 10, 2007 Official Lost Video Podcast. Analysis Recurring themes * Nikki and Paulo gain Zukerman's confidence, murder him, and steal $8 million in gems. * The only evidence showing that the two are alive and just paralyzed comes when Nikki opens her eyes while being buried. * The Medusa Spider paralyzes victims for 8 hours. * Nikki's character "Corvette" learns her boss is actually the mysterious figure "The Cobra" on the TV show Exposé. * Shannon, Arzt and Kate argue about the guns 48 days ago. * Nikki and Paulo bumped into Shannon and Boone at the airport right before embarking. * The sound stage says it's "season four". * Nikki's character in Exposé is killed. * Both Nikki and Paulo die in this episode. * The scenes in Zukerman's home show Nikki with black fingernails. In the next scene, at the airport, Nikki's fingernails are colored white. * Nikki and Paulo found the Beechcraft and the Pearl long before everybody else, but never revealed it to anyone. Paulo also witnessed Ben and Juliet discussing the abduction of Jack, Sawyer and Kate. * Sawyer calls Nikki and Paulo "Nina and Pablo", two common Spanish names. * Hurley is a fan of Exposé, which Nikki guest starred on. Cultural references * Animal Farm: Arzt's exclamation that "the pigs are walking" is a reference to the last scene of George Orwell's Animal Farm, in which the pigs are standing, a metaphor for the downtrodden becoming like their oppressors. It is a book commonly read in high school. * Chicago: Nikki and her character Corvette both use the catch phrase "Razzle Dazzle" which is a song in the musical Chicago about distracting a jury with dramatics so they won't see the truth, and is also the title of a movie about the fiercely competitive world of children's dance. * The Ron & Fez Show: "Razzle Dazzle" is also a reference to The Ron & Fez Show on XM satellite radio. Associate Producer "East Side" Dave starts off a weekly gossip segment with a voice over of another producer saying "Razzle Dazzle" in a ridiculous fashion. Brian K. Vaughn, new writer on Lost and big Ron & Fez fan, said recently during a visit in studio that he would be working some references to their show into the dialogue of Lost. This is widely speculated to be the first such reference. * Evil Under the Sun: Sawyer is reading Evil under the Sun by Agatha Christie. The plot of the book is a murder on an isolated island, and the key elements are a live person posing as a dead body, and the time of death not being what it appeared to be. The plot of the episode itself plays out similarly to many murder mysteries. * Chevrolet Corvette: Nikki's character is named "Corvette", like the sports car. * Jurassic Park: Upon suggesting that the Monster is a dinosaur, Nikki tells Paulo that the Island is not Jurassic Park. * Charlotte's Web: Zukerman, the producer of Exposé, is the same name as the farmer in Charlotte’s Web, Homer Zuckerman. Charlotte’s Web’s title character is a spider, as is one of the pivotal characters in this episode, the Medusa spider. * "Rump Shaker": The music Nikki strip teases to is "Rump Shaker" by Wreckx-N-Effect. * Charles Darwin: Arzt refers to himself as "the next Charles Darwin." Darwin was a famous naturalist and writer of the seminal work on evolution. Ironically, the "Darwin Award" is a fake award "given" to people who kill themselves or otherwise remove themselves from the human gene pool in humorous ways, similarly to how Arzt blows himself up. * Wolfgang Puck: Zukerman refers to Paulo as the "Wolfgang Puck" of Brazil. Puck is an Austrian-American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and businessman based in Los Angeles. This is likely also a reference to Rodrigo Santoro's nickname in the media of "The Brazilian Tom Cruise." * University of Wisconsin: Ethan appeared wearing a sweatshirt from the University of Wisconsin; the episode's writers, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, met each other at the University of Wisconsin. * The A-Team: When Nikki asks for a gun from Sawyer he explains to her that all of his guns were taken by the A-Team. The A-Team was a popular TV show that ran from 1983 through 1989. * American professional wrestling: Sawyer refers to Nikki and Paulo as "jabronis," a term for a wrestler who is booked to regularly lose on shows (called jobbing). This is quite similar to being a redshirt. See also: Possible cultural references for "Exposé" Literary techniques * The Russian matryoshka dolls nesting form mimics the show ''Exposé: a show within a flashback, within the episode "Exposé". It's also a hint on Lost itself, for being a show where mysteries are solved only to reveal other similar mysteries right beneath the original layer. * Witnessing Shannon and Boone arguing at the airport, Nikki asks Paulo to promise her that they will never end up like them. Nikki and Paulo end up dying on the Island. * When Locke finds Paulo burying the diamonds, he tells him that "things don't stay buried on the island." This could foreshadow the deceased being "resurrected" when the MIB takes their form. * When Nikki and Paulo are walking through the jungle while following Arzt's trajectory map, Paulo states that he doesn't trust Arzt and that they "should have gone to Ethan. He would have helped." As the undercover agent of the Others, Ethan was the one person they should not trust. * Nikki stops Paulo from lighting a cigarette after having killed Zukerman, saying, "We poisoned him; let's not poison ourselves"; that is what they end up doing. * After Zukerman tells her that they can bring her back next season, Nikki says, "I'm just a guest star, and we all know what happens to guest stars." This foreshadows her departure from the show (as ABC deems Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro guest stars). *Nikki appears in a rerun of Exposé on Sun's television in a flashforward in Season 4. Thus, in a sense, Nikki was brought back "next season." *In flashbacks, Nikki and Paulo are alive on the Island. In the present, they are both dead. *When being interrogated about possible involvement, Sawyer tosses the bag of diamonds to Sun and tells her, "...take it because whatever happened to those two I had nothing to do with". Sun, however, has just recently learned that Sawyer (along with Charlie) was involved with her abduction (see ). *The opening scene of Nikki running to the beach and collapsing returns at the end of the episode, after the audience has the context to understand it. Storyline analysis *Sawyer refers to "the A-Team" when speaking about Kate, Sayid and Locke. *Paulo feared Nikki would leave him if she found the diamonds. *Paulo overhears Ben and Juliet plotting to kidnap Jack. *Nikki and Paulo kill Howard Zukerman in order to steal his diamonds. *Nikki and Paulo watch Jack make his leadership speech. Episode connections Episode references *On-Island flashbacks coincide with previous episodes, and even this episode itself. *Paulo searches the waterfall lake for luggage, after Kate told him and Nikki about it. * It is revealed how Shannon knew that the Halliburton case key was around Jack's neck. Kate let it slip when she was defending the fact that they had made its discovery a secret. *On day 49, Paulo overheard Ben say that he would use Michael to lure Jack, Kate and Sawyer to him. Michael first made contact with Walt on the Swan computer on day 49. * Charlie confesses to Sun that he kidnapped her as part of Sawyer's con to get the guns. * Sawyer suggests Nikki and Paulo could be working for the Others, like Michael. * Sawyer and Hurley argue about who Eko's "You're next" refers to. * Juliet mentions getting Jack to operate on Ben. * Locke was watching the fictional television show Exposé when Peter Talbot showed up at his door. Episode allusions * Hurley asks why Paulo's shoe is in a tree. When Flight 815 crashed, Christian Shephard's white tennis shoe is in a tree. * Paulo wonders if the the Monster's noises were made by a dinosaur. Hurley asked Jack the same question three days earlier. Like Jack, Nikki rejects the idea. * Nikki tells Paulo to look in the drug smugglers' plane for a radio; he refuses, saying that it might fall and that he doesn't want to die, which is what happened to Boone. * Howard Zukerman has a key around his neck. Jack wears the key to the Halliburton case around his neck. * Nikki and Paulo discover the Pearl station before Eko and Locke. * One of Zuckerman's shows is called "Dr. Kincaid Esquire". William Kincaid was the name of the doctor who helped Locke get into his first wheelchair. External links * ABC Medianet Primetime Grid (Excel) * ABC Medianet Press Release Bundle 03/09/07 (Word Doc) / (PDF) de:Exposé es:Exposé fr:3x14 he:חשיפה it:Exposé nl:Exposé pl:Exposé pt:Exposé ru:Exposé Category:Episodes Category:Season 3 Category:Nikki and Paulo-centric Category:Episodes without a Previously on Lost Category:Featured on Lost: on Location Category:Episodes that are Rated TV-14-V